All Fell Down
by GimliGirl
Summary: When an unnamed nemesis fatally injures Pepper, Tony must decide between keeping his own life and saving hers. Before Iron Man 3. Oneshot. Previously titled Bleeding Out.


This is my first real FanFiction, as well as my first Marvel FanFiction. I own neither the amazing song nor the amazing characters. I only own the puny plot. If you read my story, please review! I will appreciate and do my best to get back to everyone who does!

Recently edited.

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I'm bleeding out  
So if the last thing that I do  
Is bring you down  
I'll bleed out for you  
So I bare my skin  
And I count my sins  
And I close my eyes  
And I take it in  
I'm bleeding out  
I'm bleeding out for you, for you.

When the day has come  
That I've lost my way around  
And the seasons stop and hide beneath the ground  
When the sky turns gray  
And everything is screaming  
I will reach inside  
Just to find my heart is beating

~Bleeding Out by Imagine Dragons

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Tony turned away from Pepper, who was behind him, to his nemesis, breathing heavily. He was sweating inside his suit and JARVIS was doing his best to keep up with the action. Tony lifted his arm, the hand repulsor aimed at his enemy. JARVIS straightened Tony's aim. He was ready to do this.

He had to do it.

His enemy turned, outfitted in a suit similar to Tony's. Tony closed his eyes.

He could do it.

But his enemy fired first.

A terrifying _boom_ rattled Tony's senses and JARVIS' sensors. Tony flew sideways, using his thrusters, out of the blast.

But he had forgotten Pepper. Tony howled with rage and fear when he saw the blast that was aimed for him make Pep fly back, her head smacking the concrete with a _crack_ that rattled Tony's bones. He was strong enough to kill that man now. There was no way his enemy would get away with _that_. He turned and flew toward his nemesis with a power he had forgotten he had, rage obscuring his vision.

He raised his arm and JARVIS aimed his repulsor at his enemy's copied arc reactor.

He shot.

The man in the other suit shrank back from the impact, and Tony continued to batter his opponent with blazing energy. Soon, the other suit was smoking and empty of life, but Tony shot and shot, tears blurring his vision, rage clouding his head.

"Sir, sir!" JARVIS said, trying to rattle Tony's senses.

Tony stopped, panting, looking around him for the first time. They were in the smoking remains of a parking lot, Pepper bleeding, limbs contorted, to his left, the man in the suit—his identity unknown to Tony—dead on his right. Tony's thrusters gave out and he thunked onto the crushed and wrecked pavement, the adrenaline draining from his limbs.

Tony ran to Pepper and sank down next to her, his iron knees scraping the uneven pavement. He took her head in his arms, taking in the bloody blow to her right temple and the disfiguration it left her strawberry-blonde head.

"She is still alive, but only just," JARVIS remarked, quickly noting Pepper's current health stats. "Her pulse is weak and she has taken a serious blow to the head. Any jarring, sadly, would kill her." He said the last sentence with more sorrow and distaste than the AI technology could be expected.

Tony's tears trekked down his cheeks, stinging a cut under his right eye and pushing dirt, sweat and grime out of its way. Tony nodded tersely.

He could not bring her to a hospital, then.

"Would anything fix it?"

"Not without detrimental damage to yourself, sir."

"JARVIS. What. Will. Fix. Pepper."

"I'm afraid the only thing that would heal her sufficiently would be… your arc reactor, I'm afraid. If you hadn't blasted the villain's armour so fiercely, such drastic measures would not need to be taken..." JARVIS trailed off.

Tony tore off his armour in a rush, piling it recklessly next to him, although he left his helmet on so he could communicate with JARVIS. He then pulled off his sweaty compression shirt and gently twisted the arc reactor out of his chest.

"Now what, JARVIS?"

"Sir, your time is quite limited without your arc reactor," JARVIS tried.

"I know, JARVIS," Tony hurriedly intoned. "Just tell me what I need to do next."

"You have fourteen minutes and fifty-four seconds of life left, sir," JARVIS said. He then posted a countdown clock on the inside of Tony's helmet.

Tony felt nothing. He just had to get Pepper safe, _then_ he could freak out about himself. Pepper's life was his priority right now, not his own life.

JARVIS then reluctantly directed Tony in saving Pepper.

When Pepper's eyes fluttered open, her steely gaze locking onto Tony's, Tony had three minutes on the clock. He felt weak. The pain within his chest was tearing him apart. But that was not his concern right now.

Pepper was alive.

"T-Tony?" Pepper rasped. Tony flipped up his visor.

"I'm right here, Pep." Tony smiled down at her and cradled her to him, not noticing the empty aluminium cup jutting out of the centre of his chest.

Pepper did, though.

"Tony… what happened to your arc reactor?"

"I took it out. You needed it."

His breathing was coming slower now.

The clock said there was two minutes left.

JARVIS said, "Should I call the hospital, sir?"

"No, JARVIS," Tony answered. "Pepper is okay now."

"But sir—"

"JARVIS. No."

He took off the helmet.

1:18.

"Pepper?"

"Tony, you're dying!" Pepper pushed herself off of Tony's chest and looked him in the eye, her stormy scrutiny locking onto his brown eyes.

"No, Pep, I'm not." Tony smiled and fondled Pepper's hair. Her tears mixed with his.

56 seconds.

"Pepper…" Tony started, having difficulty controlling his breathing, "Pep, I need to tell you something."

"No! Tony, you're going to live!" She was sobbing, her mouth open, her light hair falling over her shoulders and brushing Tony's. "I can't let you die." She began tearing at the arc reactor attached to her by cords.

Tony lifted his hand, stilling hers.

"And I can't… let _you_ die. Keep it."

"No!"

"Pep. It's a gift."

His chest slowed. Rose a bit.

"Pep. I love…"

Tony stilled.

Pepper's cry of denial filled the beat-up grocery store parking lot, her arms wrapped around Tony Stark.

"I love you too, Tony," she whispered, tears dripping onto his bare chest and falling into the cup where his arc reactor was. "I do too."


End file.
